University of Rhode Island - Renaissance / Grist Yearbook (Kingston, RI)

Page 27 text:

jfcistojy. I N 1863 the State of Rhode Island accepted from the United States Government the land grant scrip, which gave to each State thirty thousand acres of the public lands for each Senator and Representative in Congress. The land was to be sold by the States, the proceeds of the sale invested, and the income appropriated for the maintenance of at least one college where the leading object should be to teach such branches of learning as are related to Agriculture and Mechanic Arts. By the Hatch Act of March 2, 1887, an annual appropriation of $15,000 was granted each State for the purpose of establishing an Agricultural Experiment Station in connection with an Agricul- tural College or School. It was not until the summer of 1888, however, that the Rhode Island State Agricultural School was established, and in the mean- time the funds for agricultural instruction had been appropriated by Brown University. Further funds were granted the Agricultural Colleges by the new Morrill bill of August 30, 1890. That these might be used in Rhode Island the Agricultural School was incorporated as a college, and has been conducted on such a basis since September, 1892. On April 19, 1894, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the State Treasurer to pay Brown University the sum of $40,000, in

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He collared Mr. Brightman, And said, “You go to-morrow ” ; Then down there came an ocean — Changing triumph into sorrow. He jumped up to the third floor, All soaked from feet to head, And, seizing Brother Palmer, He pulled him out of bed. From here he went to Scott’s room To tell of the affair — To dry his regimentals And smooth his golden hair. Now, we can’t exactly calculate Just what the end will be; But we think that Sergt. Williams Will fire two or three.

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consideration of which the University was to turn over to the State the proceeds of the original Land Grant of 1862, and to withdraw from the United States Supreme Court its suit for the Morrill Fund. The fire of January 27, 1895, destroyed the Dormitory, which was rebuilt, however, and ready for occupancy by the first of the following October. During the past winter the Legislature appropriated $45,000 for a Drill and Recitation Hall. This building faces the centre of the prospective campus, and is already progressing well towards com- pletion. Such is a brief history of the College from a statistical stand- point. Its history from a student point of view is quite different. When the farm was purchased no substantial stone buildings orna- mented it, though the ground was well sprinkled with rocks left by the glaciers of long ago. A multitude of little shanties surrounded the farm-house, which was gotten at only by means of a wretched road ; and it seemed as if a difficult job was in store for the officials of the new institution. But what a difference a few years made ! The roads were widened and improved, the shanties destroyed, the farm enlarged, and the farm-house painted. All these changes were made upon what had been. From granite quarried upon the place the Laboratory and College Hall were built, while the Boarding Hall and Mechanical Building were constructed of wood. Lawns were laid out and trees and shrubs planted. The first class entered in September, 1890, before College Hall was fully completed. At that time the institution was a school .with a three years’ course, and so it continued to be until 1892. In one tower of the first College Hall hung a bell, whose sweet tones called the students to meals, to chapel, and to class. The college history in the student’s mind contains many pranks played with that same bell, whose last musical notes rang its own death- knell.